Next generation wireless communication system architecture must be able to provide an array of services comparable to wire-line services. One such service envisioned for the next generation Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) architecture is multicasting. By definition, multicasting is a method which provides the delivery of information to multiple destinations without transmitting the same information content to each destination separately.
Typically, wireline multicasting generates a great deal of messaging in the network, which is unacceptable in a wireless environment. More particularly, because each signal transmitted in a CDMA system is typically transmitted in the same frequency band, a majority of the noise associated with a received signal can be attributed to other simultaneous transmissions. The magnitude of noise is directly related to the amount of data that is simultaneously transmitted within the communication system. Thus it is beneficial for a communication system to transmit as little as possible in order to reduce the overall system noise.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for data transmission in a wireless communication system that minimizes the number of messages transmitted to a remote unit.